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It's Even Bigger Than It Looks!

I've been giving some thought to how on earth I'm going to scrap the thousands and thousands of photos we took on our month-long road trip this past fall (I have so far avoided thinking about sorting all of those photos--ugh!), and I think what makes the most sense is to use multi-photo templates for the vast majority of them, but make the occasional special page to highlight something that really stood out to me.

Our hike to the Corona Arch is such an event. Located near Moab, Utah, the Corona Arch is not officially part of Arches National Park; it isn't even on the same road as the national park, and perhaps for this reason it did not have nearly as many people visiting it. Oftentimes we were the only two people on the trail, and for a short while we even had the entire arch to ourselves. The first part of the hike is a rather steep climb, but then the trail for the most part is fairly level. Most of the trail is over slickrock, which means there is no trail as such. Your path is marked by the presence of "ducks" (also known as cairn), man-made piles of rocks that mark the way. I have a slight fear of heights (well, not so much a fear of heights as a fear of falling...actually, not so much a fear of falling as a fear of smashing into the ground and dying a painful death...but I digress...), so when we got to the last part of the hike--a vertical climb up a slickrock face, aided by footholds and a cable--I was not thrilled. Still, I'd come that far and was determined to complete the hike and sit under the arch, so I made the climb. You can't see the expression on my face, but as I neared the top of this climb, Peter called out to me so he could take my photo. The look in my eyes is not one of fear but one of murder; I was so intent on the climb that when he called my name I started and nearly lost my grip. We had a loooooong talk after that, about when it might be appropriate to ask me to pose for a photo and when it would be best to wait... (In fact, it is this conversation that led to this, but I digress again...)

Anyway, I finished the climb, only to be confronted with another slightly less vertical climb, and this time there were no footholds or cable. Sigh. I didn't look particularly dignified crawling up this last bit practically on my hands and knees (and no, Peter didn't take a picture of this!), but I made it, and I'm so glad I did! The Corona Arch is such a spectacular sight to see up close and personal!

Journaling under the photos reads:
"Peter reminds me that “two rocks do not a duck make,” but I think there are three rocks here!"
"It doesn’t look so big from here, but we’re still at least half a mile away. See that speck in the large photo? That’s me!"
"This part of the trail was scary for me--a vertical climb aided by footholds and a metal cable. Coming down was even more fun!"

great captures and journaling Shirley... been there done that and my emotions mirrored yours... my problem was the coming down part after the going up part... and I'm a mountain runner but there is something about slick rock that just doesn't fit my running treads... that being said... I LOVE Moab... amazing place... great pages and it sounds like we'll enjoy many more...